Vision for the Calabazas Creek, San Tomas Aquino Creek, and Pond A8

SFEI recently released a resilient landscape vision for the interface of Calabazas Creek, San Tomas Aquino Creek, and Pond A8 in South San Francisco Bay that benefits both flood management and  bayland habitat restoration. The vision, developed in coordination with a team of regional science experts, explores a reconfigured shoreline that could improve ecosystem health and resilience, reduce maintenance costs, and protect surrounding infrastructure. The Vision focuses on breaching a levee protecting a historical commercial salt pond (Pond A8) and allowing Calabazas and San Tomas Aquino creeks to drain directly into the pond, thereby delivering sediment needed for restoring the pond back to tidal marsh. This vision is an element of the EPA-funded project Healthy Watersheds, Resilient Baylands, which seeks to integrate watershed planning with baylands restoration to create healthier and more resilient aquatic systems and communities. Project partners include the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project. For more information, visit hwrb.sfei.org or contact Scott Dusterhoff.